Communication is frustrating for us all say Trust Board Member Steve Bedder

Good afternoon everyone and a warm welcome to all those who have travelled up from Swindon to support their team today. It’s about 18 months ago that Swindon Town were last at Edgeley Park, that day we won 3-0 with two goals from Anthony Elding and one from Liam Dickinson. Let’s hope we can do the same today, albeit with different names on the score sheet.

As you might have read in Tuesdays Programme Notes from my colleague Martin White, the Trust Elections are currently underway and we have a number of strong candidates standing this year.  The Trust AGM which is being held on 3rd November at Edgeley Park will announce the results of the election. The AGM will also give the Trust Board an opportunity to give Trust Members an overview of what has been done over the past 12 months, where we are heading and answer questions that members might have.

One question that I’m sure will come up is the one of communication and in particular what is, and isn’t communicated. Like many Trust Members and County fans, this is an area that I also feel passionately about and I want to make sure that as a club owned by the fans that we communicate as much as possible to the owners. Since joining the Trust Board 18 months ago, I’ve come to realise that this is not as easy as it first seems.

Both the Club and Trust Boards must be careful of what information is released as well as when and how it is released. We would love to have a completely open policy when it comes to communication, but not all communication is received in the way that it is meant.

Press releases, web pages, message boards etc are no substitute for the spoken word. Electronic and print formats (such as this one) don’t always convey the emotion and message as it is intended and on a number of occasions I have witnessed people getting a completely different message from the same press release because of the way it was written and interpreted.

We also have to contend with legal and confidentiality issues and ensure that as a professional organisation the information that is released does not lead to legal action. This unfortunately means that although we want communicate the whole story, we have to respect the wishes of third-parties and make sure that we are not breaching any legality issues. This is probably the single most reason why certain information is not as concise as some would like.

The good news though, is that both the Trust and Club Boards are constantly working to improve communication with Trust members and fans. We know that at times it is frustrating because as fans of Stockport County, you want to know what is going on at the Club you love.  We are working hard to ensure that accurate, legal and timely information is provided as and when required in various mediums to keep the thirst for information quenched.

Thanks for reading, have a great afternoon.

C’mon County!